The Legend of Zelda: Verge of Destruction
by KLCtheBookWorm
Summary: Ganon was defeated, and peace returned to Hyrule. But moblins still march on errands for their Master, and the Triforce issues warnings about a fourth Triforce. Link and Zelda must find it and the last Gensiarian, or risk destroying the entire Universe.
1. Part One

**Disclaimer:** Nintendo owns all rights of the Legend of Zelda video games and the characters Link, Zelda, Ganon, the King, and Captain Krin. All other characters were created by me, so please do not use them. But feel free to draw them and send me a copy. I make no money off of this work. _Verge of Destruction_ is set five years after the first game. If you have any other questions about the sequence of events, please see my website for the timeline. 

Also note that my Link and Zelda are the characters from the first two games in the series as well as the cartoon show from the 1980s. And now that I've dated myself, enjoy the story. 

* * *

**_THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_  
Verge of Destruction  
Part One**

A land found on a peninsula, separated from the rest of the world by a range of mountains and a mighty ocean encircling it. A land of forests, plains, deserts, farmlands, villages, and isolated homes. A land chosen to be the focus for the magic of an entire world. A land where a kingdom was created by the creatures of that magic. A land where a legend was born and heroes challenged evil. A land called... Hyrule. 

* * *

**Nine Years Ago**

The warm orange flames lit the dark room. A man knelt by the hearth and stared into the fire, trying to draw knowledge from its depths. A whimpering changed his focus from the fire to a crib. He got up and looked at the sleeping girl. The brown-haired toddler stirred slightly inside it. A fox cub, just weaned, slept by her feet. 

A loud crash sounded through the still, night forest. The man leaped to his feet, attempting to gaze past the walls into the night. The girl's mismatched blue and silver eyes opened then closed. 

* * *

**Present**

Hyrule hadn't changed, and Link hoped it never would. He rode out of the small village he had spent the night in and rode into the massive forest on its outskirts. The villagers had spoke in fear of gatherings of moblins within, looking so hopefully at the Kingdom's greatest hero. He sighed. So much for hoping the moblins would knock it off in his absence. Maybe a year just wasn't long enough to change moblin behavior. 

It had been just a year. It seemed longer. the large trees pressed closer to the path. Not for the first time, he wondered how Zelda's year had been. Not that she needed any help from me. Not that she had missed me as much as I missed her. Probably is glad that I'm out of her hair. His brown eyes absentmindedly surveyed the surrounding forest. Should I go to the North Palace? Just to say hello, I was in the countryside, how are you, that type of thing. And accomplish what besides pouring salt in an open wound and grinding it in? He grimaced. No, it's best to avoid the Palace. If Zelda needed him, she would call for him telepathically like she said she would. And Zelda was always good at keeping her promises. 

Catherine shied in the path and stopped. Link woke up from his thinking and glanced around. Nothing seemed out of place. "What is it, girl? Come on, we got a job to do." The mare reluctantly continued down the trail. She still shied visibly. "Easy, easy," he crooned as he petted her neck. "I don't like this any more than you do." 

She snorted with disbelief. Catherine knew him too well to believe that. 

Link brushed his brown hair out of his brown eyes as he gazed around the forest. Nothing seemed wrong, except it was too quiet. 

Catherine still hadn't moved. He prodded her. "Come on." The horse refused to move. "I thought you wanted to get out of here." He prodded her again. 

A sound above made him look up, straight up at the moblin falling on top of him with a drawn dagger. He saw it so clearly before the impact of bodies knocked him to the ground. 

Catherine bolted but not very far before stopping. She wouldn't leave him like that. A sharp pain erupted in his arm as Link threw off the moblin and drew his sword. 

The magical energy danced up the blade of his sword. Link aimed it at the moblin, sending the energy straight for him. The blue glow surrounded the monster and it vanished. He glanced down where he felt the pain. He saw the badly bleeding wound across his upper right arm. A glance was all he had time for as more moblins burst into the small clearing. "Great," Link took his stance. "I hate unexpected company." 

Five of the dwarven creatures with doggish faces rushed toward him. He managed to zap two of them, but had to parry the blows from the swords and pole axes of the other three. Six more moblins crept into the clearing, circling around the human. He twisted the moblin's sword out of its hands and zapped the creature. Four more moblins jumped down from the trees. 

The sleeve of his jerkin was soaked with blood, Link realized as he warily kept his distance. One moblin rushed forward with a yell. He zapped that one and another moblin slammed into his back. 

He rolled with the moblin. The bloody sleeve ripped away as he managed to reach his feet. More moblins scrambled forward, and a dozen more peered out of the underbrush. "As much as I hate to give up a fight," he muttered through clinched teeth. "Catherine!" 

She galloped through the circle of moblins. They scattered from her hooves. Link grabbed hold of the saddle with his left arm and yanked himself into it. They galloped wildly into the shadowy forest. 

The moblins started to give chase, but their captain stopped them. "We have what Master wants." He took the bloody sleeve from the moblin who tore it from Link. 

Link didn't know how far Catherine had ran before he realized that the moblins were not pursuing him. He stopped her and slid out of the saddle. He sheathed his sword. After pulling his supplies from the saddlebags, he started trying to dress the wound. 

* * *

**Present**

Princess Zelda of Hyrule sat at a table set up in the throne room of the North Palace listening to the courier drone on about the state of affairs of the kingdom. Her green eyes drifted away to stare out the windows. The rolling green meadow led gently down to Castle-town. The sun was shinning in the bright blue sky of early afternoon and large white clouds drifted in front of it. A more preferable scene than the courier's haughty expression. Eventually, he would notice and chide her for not paying attention but she had already paid more attention than her father usually did. 

She stared out the window and had just made up her mind to dismiss the courier and go for a ride when the blow struck. Her stomach clenched as if it had caught a physical blow. Her vision darkened. She could still see the countryside outside the Palace but everything had shifted to shades of grey. A familiar chilling laughter filled her ears. She clutched the edge of the table. 

"Your Highness?" The courier put down the stack of papers he held in his hands. "Are you feeling ill?" 

She distractedly turned to the courier. Her vision had returned to normal and she could see his pensive face clearly. The laughter was gone as well. "I'm fine," came out of her mouth in a suppressed tone. 

"Should I send for the Royal Physician?" 

"I'm fine." She repeated firmly. "Please leave me alone. I need to consult with the Triforce." The courier left and Zelda turned to the three glowing pyramids floating above the throne. Green for wisdom, red for power, and yellow-gold for courage--the Triforce, the Power of Gold--locked together in the form of a larger pyramid. "What's wrong? There's trouble, what is it?" 

_Only the last Gensiarian can destroy the Triforce of Destruction._

Zelda blinked. "The Triforce of Destruction?" The Triforce remained silent. She swallowed and voiced the fear that had blossomed in her when she heard the laughter. "Has Ganon returned?" 

_He never truly left._

"But we vanquished him?" 

_Yes, but that which has gained immortality is not so easily destroyed. You weakened Ganon and forced him to change his form, yet destroyed was he not._

"No, no, no! This is wrong. We got the Triforce of Power away from Ganon. He should have died." 

_Part of Ganon did die. Part of Ganon did not. The part that did not die returned to the Dark Realm._

Zelda turned away and stared back out the window. If Ganon had returned in a form able to damage Hyrule, she needed Link. Ganon was probably already after him. She sighed, closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and concentrated on Link. _Link? Link, please. I need you._

* * *

**Present**

Link swore at the moblin that had cut him. It seemed like it had planned to cut him in the one spot you couldn't bandage easily with one hand. But that wasn't possible; moblins weren't that smart. 

He took a deep breath. He could feel the blackness at the fringe of his consciousness. "I think I lost a little more blood than is good for you, Catherine." 

She bent her head down until she was face to face with the sitting young man. She pushed her muzzle against his chest. 

He reached up with his left hand and scratched her forehead under her forelock. "It's all right. You tried to tell me. I just can't figure out why they didn't chase us." He could feel his eyelids dropping and he struggled to keep them open. 

He heard, _Link? Link, please. I need you,_ in Zelda's voice. It was faint as if coming from a great distance. 

"Zelda?" He cried before falling back, unconscious. Catherine neighed with alarm. 

The golden hawk perched on a branch looked down at the fallen human quizzically. It flew off, screeching. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda broke her concentration, drained. Why did it take so much energy to call to Link now? It used to be so easy. But that was when he was still living in the Palace. Maybe it was based on proximity. Maybe she was out of practice with him. She hadn't contacted him since he left a year ago. 

She would have to ponder why it took some much energy to contact Link later. She rang for the courier. He entered quickly. "Who is the leading authority on the Triforce in Hyrule?" 

The courier showed his surprise, dumbfounded into forgetting to hide his expressions. "Surely it is yourself, Princess Zelda?" 

"I can only focus its power; I know very little of its history. I need someone who knows the Triforce and magic." 

The courier spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "I know of no one, your Highness." 

Zelda sighed. "Send notices throughout the Kingdom." The courier left to do her bidding and she tried to ignore the fear gnawing at her. That laugh; how she hated that laugh! The last time she had heard it she thought she had lost Link forever. 

* * *

**Two Years Ago**

Link and Ganon fought in an anteroom to his Grand Chamber in the Underworld. The evil wizard with the grotesque form hurled a spell at the young hero. Link's shield absorbed it, causing no harm. Link smirked. "You missed, Pig-Face. Wanna try again?" 

Zelda eased out of the anteroom and ran through the Grand Chamber that Ganon used as a throne room. She paused to fire off magical arrows from her bow. The arrows hit the two moblins guarding the Triforce of Power and they vanished in flashes of blue light. 

"You've been annoying long enough, you pitiful excuse for a hero." Ganon hurled another spell at Link. This one caught him and threw him against the wall. "I shall destroy you. And your precious Princess." Link pushed himself up against the wall, never lowering his guard. Ganon grinned at his determined expression. "I think I'll destroy her now. Ladies first." He looked around and his grin faded. "Where is she?" 

She pulled the Triforce of Wisdom from the pouch on her belt. She laid one hand on its green surface and reached over for the Triforce of Power. 

With a squeal of rage, Ganon threw up his hands to cast a spell. Link, running at full speed, hurled himself into Ganon's back. The spell ricocheted off the ceiling of the Grand Chamber and hit the floor as Ganon toppled over. 

Zelda grasped the chain that flowed from the Triforce of Power with her touch. Link looked up briefly as he scrambled over Ganon. "Run for it, Zelda!" She flew for the doorway behind her and he raced after her. 

Ganon lurched to his feet. "You will not escape!" He threw the spell wrapped in a ball of red energy. Zelda ducked into the doorway and grabbed Link's arm to pull him to safety. But the spell hit first. Link screamed at the red energy exploded around him. He crumpled to the floor without making another sound. 

"Link!" Zelda dropped to her knees beside his fallen form, ignoring the numb feeling traveling up her left arm. He was still breathing; she could feel the rise and fall of his chest under her hands. A golden glow surrounded his body and lifted away from it, condensing into the shape of a pyramid. The Triforce of Courage flew up to the other two Triforces. "No!" she screamed. Link needed its magic to fight the spell. This couldn't happen now. 

The three Triforces flew together, forming a larger pyramid. The green Triforce of Wisdom formed the apex. the golden Triforce of Courage went under it to the right. The red Triforce of Power went under it to the left. Just enough space was left between the three for an inverted pyramid to fit between them. A bright white light burst from them. When it faded, they floated in the air without any support. 

Ganon laughed as he grabbed the stand for support. His evil, chilling laughter filled the halls of the Underworld. Zelda clenched her hands to stop their shaking, trying to block out the sound and not succeeding. She swallowed and looked up, cold rage burning in her emerald eyes. She stood up. "Go ahead and laugh, Ganon. Laugh all you want. But we won." 

"Yes, you have the Power of Gold. But at what price, Princess?" he wheezed. 

"This price," she hissed, channeling destructive energy at Ganon. The white light surrounded the pig-like humanoid and he screamed. He continued screaming as the light grew brighter and he vanished completely. 

She dropped back to her knees at Link's side. "Link, Link." His breathing was shallower and his pulse was fading. "No! Link, you can't die. Someone help me, please!" 

No one answered her call. She quickly pulled herself together and grabbed hold of Link. She dragged him through the halls of the Underworld toward the ones that led to the Palace. All the while begging with her mind for someone to help here, for someone to save Link. 

And then Captain Krin appeared in the halls of the Underworld leading two of the Palace Guards. They carried Link back to the Palace where he got better. And where she learned she could send her thoughts to others. But only Link could send his to her. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda shook her head. Mother Brain had tried to bring Ganon back just a little later, but she and Link had stopped him again with the help of Captain N. And that should have been the end of it. 

But the moblins and other servants of Ganon had never stopped terrorizing her people. And Link had never truly stopped thinking of Ganon as a potential threat. Maybe I was just deluding myself. 

She looked back out over the countryside. If Ganon could be defeated once, he could be defeated again. She and Link would save Hyrule again. Link, where was he? Was he all right? 

"Be save, wherever you are," she murmured. 

* * *

**Present**

Lissa hung the ax back on the wall of the lean-to shed and stepped out into the warm afternoon sun. The light streamed down from the clearing surrounding the cabin. The young girl stretched the muscles she had just used to chop firewood to last for the week. 

She did a half-skip half-step to the brook that ran across one corner of the clearing. She knelt next to the water on top of a very flat boulder and washed her face with its clear water. She looked up into the green shadows across the brook. "Who's there?" Her mismatched blue and silver eyes stared unblinkingly into one spot of the underbrush. 

A wolf bounded out of that spot and leaped across the narrow brook. It carried the hind leg of a deer in its mouth. It stopped and faced her. 

"Well, I suppose carrying that in your mouth would make it hard to announce that you're coming. Is it for me?" 

The wolf lowered its head slightly with closed eyes. 

She took the meat from him gravely. "I am perfectly capable of hunting. You didn't need to bring me this." 

The wolf growled a reply to her and jumped back across the brook, disappearing into the forest. Lissa shook her head with a grin and carried the meat into the cabin. 

The red fox uncurled his form out of a ball on the hearth and yapped a question at the human girl. 

"This? A present from the leader of the wolf pack that Morelak belongs to. He wanted to thank me for taking care of him." 

The fox yapped again. 

"Nalga, that isn't nice. We're supposed to help because it's the right thing to do. Not because we get stuff." 

Nalga sat up on his haunches and yawned. But he still watched Lissa prepare the meat. 

She had just finished when a golden hawk flew into the clearing screeching. He landed on the windowsill of the cabin's open window and repeated his story. 

"Kilare, you're not making any sense. What do you mean, `Someone injured is in the woods'?" 

Kilare screeched again, loud and insistent. "All right, all right, we're coming. Lead the way." Lissa left the cabin with Nalga trotting at her heels. "Okay, where is he?" The hawk screeched again and started flying down a trail leading from the clearing. 

The hawk led them to the unconscious young man and a nervous brown mare. She placed herself between the two humans with a wild dare-come-no-closer look in her eyes. 

Lissa held up her hands. "It's all right. We're here to help. I'm Lissa and this is Nalga and Kilare. "What's your name?" 

The horse neighed a response. 

"Pleased to meet you, Catherine. And I'm not going to hurt your master. I want to take you both to my cabin where I can tend to him and you can have some good grass to eat." 

Catherine stared at the human girl for a few more seconds, then stepped out of the way. She examined him quickly. "He should be okay, once we get a decent bandage on his arm. Catherine, I'm going to need your help to get him home." The horse knelt down and Lissa hauled the young man over to her and finally managed to drape him across the saddle. 

Kilare led the way back to the cabin's clearing. Lissa dragged the stranger into the cabin and into the bed without too much difficulty. Nalga and Kilare watched her as she tended him. 

"I wonder who he is." She removed his sword belt. "Some sorta adventurer, I guess. Or maybe a knight in disguise." She pulled off his boots, then undid the loose bandage. "Uck. Pretty deep. Looks like he was in a fight." She finished dressing it. "That should hold. Kilare, keep an eyes on him while I make sure Catherine's okay." 

She left the cabin. Catherine was waiting nervously in the clearing. "Here, let me take that saddle off." The human girl's hands soothed as she ran them across the horse's body. "What happened to you two?" 

Catherine quickly told her story as Lissa pulled off the saddle and saddle blanket. She ended it with a question. 

"His name is Link? Well, he's going to be fine now, Catherine. And don't worry; no moblins are going to attack us." 

The horse wasn't completely relieved, but she did bury her brown and pink muzzle into the grass and began to graze. Lissa gave her one last reassuring pat and reentered the cabin. 

Kilare cried out a question. 

"Yes, it's possible that he could be delirious, why?" 

Kilare screeched a sentence. 

"Moblins? Ganon? Zelda's in trouble? Triforce? What does all that mean?" 

Kilare screeched sarcastically. 

"Yes, I realize that you wouldn't ask me if you knew what he meant. Catherine says they were attacked by moblins. And Father always said to beware of them and their master Ganon. I think you should tell the other animals that we may need extra protection." 

Kilare cried out a promise and flew out the door. 

Lissa ducked a rag into some cool water and bathed Link's face. "The rest of the story must be good." 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda looked at the crumbling ruin in the red light of the sinking sun with obvious distaste. It had been two days since the vision and the duke that owned this castle was the only one to answer the notices she had sent out. Lack of any other leads brought her and the courier to visit. 

The courier had an impassive look about him--trained not to revel emotions--but the cold tone betrayed his feelings toward this whim of the Princess. "Surely, there could have been some way to persuade them to bring their information to our North Palace." 

"The Duke said the documents could not be moved," she replied. Every instinct she had screamed to turn around and leave. She silenced their objections. The need for information was too great. Hyrule's safety depended on her. By the Triforce, where is Link? She quickly chased that thought from her mind. Link would cut it close, like always. She turned her attention back to the courier. "Let's meet our host." 

They both had to dismount and lead their horses across the rotting drawbridge. Storm, usually docile and dependable, was as skittish as a colt. The courier's horse wasn't acting much better. Zelda tried to soothe her white mare as they stood in the courtyard of bare spots of earth and dead grass. A dry fountain crumbled under their gaze. 

"Welcome to our humble estate, Princess Zelda." A portly man dressed in a rich, purple robe, a stark contrast to the ruinous castle, descended on a flight of stone steps. "I am Duke Pendana. Come inside, please. You must be exhausted after such a long journey." The sun sank lower as they entered the castle. 

* * *

**Present**

The long, dark corridor had no visible sources of light, yet Link had no trouble seeing. He continued walking straight ahead, only glancing quickly into ornate but shadowy side corridors. The mason work of the hall he was walking through was cracked and shattered. Dark veins of space pulsed through what was left of the grey chipped figures. 

A large dark door made of a smooth black wood blocked his path. He ran his hands over the wood searching for a latch or a knob. Words had been carved into the wood. "Despair, loneliness, fear," is what his fingers read. 

"I'm not afraid." He shoved the door. 

It swung open into a vast room. A massive throne carved from grey stone sat at the opposite end. A young woman with long blonde hair struggled against the ropes that tied her to the giant throne. She twisted to try to free herself and cried out with pain. "Zelda!" Link ran forward, drawing a dagger from his belt. 

"No, Link!" she shouted. "Freeing me in your dream won't make any difference in the real world." 

He stopped before stepping up on the dais and looked up at her. "Where are you? What's happening to you? Who has you?" 

"No one has me yet. But I'm walking into a trap." 

"A trap! Where? I'll rescue you!" 

"You better rescue me! But there is something you must do before that. You have to find the last of the Gensiarians." 

It wasn't the first time Zelda hadn't made any sense to him. "I hate to tell you this, but there is no last Gensiarian. They always have been and always will be." 

"I know." She winced as if the pain had grown greater. "But the Triforce said there was one, so there must be." 

"They're supposed to be pure magic, more powerful than the Triforce! How do you give an age to pure magic?" 

"I don't know." She winced again. 

"What's hurting you?" Link stepped closer. 

Her voice fell softly. "It so hard to talk to you like this, Link. But you stay so far away. This is the longest conversation I've had with you for a long time. Please, as soon as you can, come to the North Palace. I need your help." Zelda started to fade. 

"Zelda, don't walk into that trap!" Link shouted as she grew more transparent. 

"I may not have a choice." Zelda faded entirely. 

Link woke with a start. Slowly, he realized that he was lying on a bed in a dark room. He blinked his eyes slowly. A fire burned to his right, casting dancing shadows over the bed and onto the wall on his left. His arm had been re-bandaged. A golden hawk perched on the headboard at his feet watched him with beady eyes. He decided to risk sitting up. Pain from the gash matched the pain in his head, and he groaned softly. 

The hawk screeched. Someone asleep in a chair by the fireplace jolted with alarm then relaxed. "What is it, Kilare?" A girl's voice called out sleepily from the chair. 

"It's nothing, really. But I could use a pain killer." 

The girl jumped out of the chair and turned toward the bed in one movement. "You're awake! What happened to you? Why do you keep babbling about Ganon?" 

"Slow down. My name is Link." 

"I know that. Catherine told me. I want to know about the fight with the moblins." 

"Everybody always wants to jump straight to the good parts. When someone introduces themselves, its good manners to say how do you do and what your name is." 

"I'm Lissa." 

"Hello. Now do you have anything to deaden pain?" 

"Yes. I suppose it still hurts a lot. It's a deep cut, but it's healing nicely." She turned to a cabinet on the wall behind him and pulled out a jar and a roll of bandages. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. He could see her more clearly now. She was young, about twelve, with a petite build. Her long brown hair was braided back and draped over her shoulder. The eye visible in the firelight was blue. She pulled his arm toward her and started unwinding the bandage. "In a couple more days, it should be completely healed." 

He looked down at it. She was right. "How long was I out?" 

"Two days." 

"Okay. Three nights ago, I spent the night in the village outside this forest." 

"I know it. Haven't been there since Father died." 

"They complained about moblin activity, so I decided to encourage the moblins to leave them alone. One literally got the drop on me and gave me that nice little scratch." He nodded down at the cut under his torn sleeve of his jerkin. "Then more than a dozen wanted to fight me at once, so I strategically retreated. I lost consciousness somewhere after I realized they weren't chasing me." 

She smeared the contents of the jar on the wound. Her touch was gentle but her other hand kept a firm grip to keep him from jerking his arm back. "It stings for a few seconds, but it helps the body heal faster. What does Ganon, Zelda, and a Triforce have to do with you?" 

"How long ago did your father die?" 

"About four years ago." 

"And you've been here alone since then?" 

"Not alone. I have Kilare." She gestured to the golden hawk still perched on the end of the bed. "And Nalga." She gestured to a bundle of red fur near the fireplace that Link realized was a fox. "And you haven't answered my question." 

"I just thought everyone in Hyrule knew about Ganon, Zelda, and me." 

"Well, I don't." She started winding the fresh bandages around his arm. "I just know about Ganon and that he is evil." 

"Okay. Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule. I helped her put Ganon out of commission and reassemble the Triforce, the Power of Gold. It's a powerful magical object that Ganon could use to conquer all of Hyrule if he had it." 

"I thought you said you killed Ganon?" 

"I put him out of commission. You can't kill Ganon--he's immortal. In fact, the only thing that can bring Ganon back to life is my blood. Oh no!" Link slapped his forehead. "That's why the moblins didn't chase me, all they wanted was my blood!" He started to get out of the bed. "I have to get to Zelda. She thought she was walking into a trap, and she's right!" 

"Slow down," Lissa ordered as she pressed her hand against his chest. "You need my help to get out of this forest and to the Princess in time. And if I help you, I want to go with you." 

"Too dangerous." 

"For you to go alone injured. Besides, I'm not exactly helpless. And if you don't take me, I'll just follow you." 

"Why do you want to go?" 

"Father always told me I had a destiny and that it would come for me." 

"I'm not your destiny, kid. I just had an accident in your forest." 

"I think you're going to lead me to my destiny. Besides, you can't leave me here for the moblins to find." 

"All right," Link said reluctantly, "but I can't guarantee your safety." 

"I can take care of myself." Lissa opened the cabin door. Bright moonlight flooded in. "There's food on the table, be sure to eat." She stepped out and left the door open. Link swung his feet out of the bed and headed to the table, famished. His sword and sword belt were lying beside the meat and bread. He put some meat between two slices of bread and munched on the sandwich as he buckled on his belt and pulled on his boots. He then watched Lissa through the open doorway. 

The moon was full and bright, bathing Lissa in a soft glow. She stood in front of the forest addressing glowing eyes. When she finished speaking, the glowing eyes vanished. She reentered the cabin and started gathering supplies and straightening the cabin to leave it. Link watched her preparations with interest. "What did you do out there?" 

"I asked them what they knew about your Princess and to pass on that we need a ride. Catherine can't carry both of us." 

"Good point. Where is she?" 

"Outside. Your saddle and other stuff is in the shed." 

Link stepped outside the cabin. Catherine trotted up to him with a happy nicker. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too." He petted her. "You're going to have to find the North Palace without me, girl. I gotta go find the Princess. Think you can handle that?" 

Catherine vigorously nodded her head with a whinny. 

"Okay, let's get our stuff." 

Lissa was sitting on the ground in front of her cabin when Link and Catherine turned back around the corner. She had a pack strapped to her back and the fox's head poked out of the top of it. The hawk was perched on the roof of the cabin. An owl was perched on her arm, hooting at her. 

"Thank you very much." The owl fluttered its wings, then swooped off silently into the night. She looked up at Link. "Your Princess went to visit a castle not far from here. But the animals don't trust the place. They said it wasn't there and then it was without any building. Oh, and transportation is on the way." 

"Okay," he turned to the now-saddled Catherine. "Time for you to go, girl. We'll see you at the North Palace." 

She nickered questioningly. 

Lissa nodded. "That's right. I'm going with him." 

Catherine shook her head and started trotting down the path leading from the clearing. 

They stood in the clearing, waiting. Two huge winged creatures flew down and landed. They had the bodies of huge cats, but their heads were the same as eagles only larger. Their huge wings were feathered. Link gulped. Griffins, we got a couple of griffins. 

The first one spoke in a combination of a snarl of a lion and the screech of an eagle. Lissa turned to Link. "They've offered to carry us." 

"Are you sure?" Link asked incredulously. He was trying to forget the gory stories he knew about griffins. 

"Of course. I can talk to animals." Lissa climbed on the back of a griffin. Link sighed and climbed on the other one. The hawk screeched and flew up out of the clearing. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda sat in her room brushing her long blonde hair in preparation for supper. Someone knocked on the door. "Enter." 

The courier entered and shut the door behind him. "Your Highness, I cannot believe that someone so obviously false can have anything about the Triforce in his possession." 

She agreed, but it was her place to defend their host. "Perhaps hard times have hit this region." 

"Perhaps," the courier said grudging. "Though it seems strange that they have not shared the good fortune the rest of Hyrule has." 

"I must go to supper." She stood regally. "Snoop around a bit," she whispered to the courier as she stepped into the hall. 

* * *

**Present**

In the black of the night, someone opened the door of the stable. The horses, crazed with fear, ran out of the stable, out of the castle. Tied to the back of his horse was the gagged courier. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda set down her goblet. "Duke, this is a marvelous meal, but I am afraid that my mission is important. May I see the information you have?" 

"Of course." Duke Pendana offered Zelda his arm. Swallowing the surge of fear that had risen, she took it. 

The cracked, black stone walls narrowed the further they walked down the hall. Cracks and rocks in the floor tripped Zelda, but never bothered her host. Someone had carved runes of a language as ancient as time with exquisite care into the walls. Zelda's sense of dread grew larger as the enormous set of doors loomed closer. The flickering candlelight revealed more runes carved onto the dark wood. 

She translated the runes aloud. "This gate leads to Darkness." Gasping, she tried to pull away, but Pendana's steel grip held her fast. 

"Surely, Princess Zelda, you're not thinking of leaving now? Not when your mission is so important." Zelda found herself looking into Pendana's red eyes. Her body went limp; the connection between mind and body broken. "A nice trick, isn't it? Only one of many tricks I can do. Now," Pendana's voice grew ugly, "you will become one of us and join our Master in the Dark Realm." 

Her body refused to listen to her. _By the Triforce, Link! Where are you? _

I'm right here, Zelda. We're at the castle. 

Her heart thudded involuntarily. _I'm somewhere under the castle. I can't move. He has me under a spell. Hurry, I think we're in front of a portal to the Dark Realm._

The castle shuddered around them. "Intruders! How can that be?" Pendana shouted. He stepped up to the doors and traced over certain runes. 

* * *

**Present**

Link ran into the nearest open doorway from the courtyard with Lissa at his heels. "Zelda's in front of a portal to the Dark Realm. Can you keep it from opening?" He glanced up at the quivering black stones. "And keep this place from crashing down on us?" 

"Would you like the moon too? I can try," Lissa said doubtfully. "I stopped a rock slide once." 

"You can do it." He ran down the hallway. 

Lissa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She stretched her mind. 

A picture rushed forward to her mind's eye. A fat man dressed in a purple robe and a blonde girl Link's age stood in front of a pair of enormous wooden doors. The man traced his finger over certain runes that were carved into the dark wood. 

Lissa raised her hand and pressed it against the crack between the doors. 

* * *

**Present**

Pendana cursed. "Why won't you open?" He traced over the runes again, but the doors refused to respond. He turned back to the quivering stones. "Take her to her room. Once the intruders have reached her, destroy them all." 

Stone-like hands picked Zelda off her feet. 

_Link, they're setting a trap! I'm being moved back up to my room. _

Where? 

Upstairs, the second main corridor, at the end. But the castle, he told it to fall once you reach me. 

Let Lissa worry about the castle falling. 

Who is Lissa? But she didn't voice the thought to Link. She wouldn't distract him anymore. She was dimly aware of going over, through, under, and around the stones making up the structure of the castle. Whatever carried her placed her body limply on the bed in the guest chambers. 

* * *

**Present**

Lissa put down her hand once the stone walls had pulled the blonde girl into itself. The fat man traced the runes again and now the doors opened for him. He fled inside and they closed ominously behind him. "Nothing's falling on me tonight." 

"She could feel a pale purple glow surrounding herself. It reached out, slowly spreading a luminous purple net over the castle's undulant black stones. Their quivering stilled tremendously but they still strained against the net. 

* * *

**Present**

Link ran up a flight of stairs. They pulled up from the floor and twisted themselves upside down when he was halfway to the second floor. He leaped and somersaulted onto the second floor. He found himself in a long corridor. _Zelda? Talk to me. _

This way, quickly. I still can't move. 

Walls started to spring up, trying to block him in the hall. He jumped through a doorway that a wall hadn't closed and reached the end of the corridor. 

He found Zelda stretched out on a four-poster bed. "This really isn't the time to nap." The pallor of her skin and limpness of her body worried him. Was she still alive? Taking her up in his arms, he ran down the hall. The roof started to cave behind them. He ran faster, "Come on, Lissa. Don't give up now." 

Link was halfway down the stairs when they started to turn and buckle. He jumped to the first floor and ran for the door. The floor buckled and rolled on itself. He had to start and stop running to get anywhere; a strange game of tag with an ugly fate for the loser. They reached a doorway to the courtyard and ran out. "Lissa! Come on, it's time to leave!" 

Kilare that had flown beside the griffins dived into a doorway, screeching. Lissa stumbled out and the hawk flew behind her to make sure she left the building. The griffins swooped down--one grabbing a beak full of Link's shirt, the other Lissa's--and pulled them up and away from the castle. 

The bubbling, churning castle exploded. The fireball created lit up the night and set after waves through the skies. The griffins set them down out of the danger zone. Link laid the still limp Zelda on the ground. "You did real good work back there." 

"Did you know I could do that?" 

"I figured anybody who could talk to animals was probably more than she seemed." He looked up at her and stared. 

Thanks to the brightness, he finally saw both of Lissa's eyes. The one on her right side was blue. The one on her left was silver. And everyone knew that all Gensiarians have silver eyes. 

* * *

**Present**

Lissa sat down in the other chair beside Link in the hallway. Sunlight streamed in through the window, but his eyes focused on the closed bedroom door in front of him. "You should eat something." 

"Not hungry." 

She sighed. He had been this communicative since the griffins had brought them to the North Palace. He also hadn't moved from that chair since the servants brought the Princess to her bedroom and he had changed his jerkin. "I talked to the Captain of the Guard. Catherine made it here okay. And she found the Princess's horse and the courier that had gone to the castle with her." 

"Catherine's always had more sense than that guy." 

"So what happens now?" He stared at the door without blinking. "Link, tell me something. I've never done anything like this before." 

He took a deep breath. "Ganon set this up. I'm not sure how. But his moblins were prowling for me and that castle was created to take Zelda to wherever he is now. So now we have to wait until Zelda is well enough to talk to the Triforce and find out how to stop him." 

The Royal Physician opened the bedroom door and stepped out. Link jumped up and grabbed hold of the front of the man's jacket. "Is she all right?" 

The doctor smiled benignly under his black mustache. "Welcome back, Link. The Princess is fine. She wishes to see you." 

Link politely shoved him out of the way and entered the bedroom. The doctor chuckled. "To be young and in love." 

"Oh, so that's what his problem is," Lissa replied. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda was lying on her bed, her color finally returning to normal. So relieved that she was okay, he didn't watch what he said. "Boy, Zelda, that sure was a stupid thing to do." 

"Like you have never done anything stupid. But thanks for the rescue." 

"Do I get a kiss?" 

"Forget it. You passed up your chance. Why do you bother asking?" 

"Sorry, old habit." There was an uncomfortable pause between them. "Was it worth it?" He uttered quickly. "Getting caught, I mean." 

"No, it wasn't. Ganon found a way back." 

"I know." 

"But how? I thought we destroyed him, but the Triforce said we only destroyed part of him and he fled to the Dark Realm." Link looked away. "You knew? You knew he wasn't destroyed, that's why you left! And I thought it was something I did." She sat up and grabbed hold of his right arm directly on the wound. He winced under her grip. She let her hand fall away. "What happened to your arm?" 

"A moblin cut it. It's practically healed so I don't think you need to call Kevin to come help." 

"Why did a moblin cut it?" 

"Geez, Zelda, it was a fight. People can get hurt in fights." Safety called for a diversion. "I found the last Gensiarian." 

She let it drop. "How did you know we needed him? The Triforce said only the last Gensiarian could destroy the Triforce of Destruction, but I don't remember telling you that when I called for you." 

"I had this funny dream. And you said I needed to find the last Gensiarian in it. Probably was a fever or something. But she found me anyway." He quickly pulled a young girl out of the hall and into the bedroom. "Lissa, meet Princess Zelda." 

"Pleased to meet you, Princess." 

Zelda shook Lissa's offered hand and motioned for her to sit in the chair beside her bed. Link watched the Princess scrutinize the brown-haired girl dressed in brown pants and a long green jerkin. And he saw her hide her double take at the sight of Lissa's eyes. "Call me Zelda, Lissa. Have you always had mismatched eyes?" 

"Yes, for as long as I can remember. Father's eyes were hazel and he always said I got them from my mother. But he never talked about her." 

"That's not all," Link said. "She understands animals and she kept that magical deathtrap castle from killing us last night." 

"And the villagers were always frightened of me and called me a witch. Do you know why?" 

Link turned from Zelda to Lissa. "We think you're the one the Triforce told us to find, the last Gensiarian," he explained. 

Lissa grinned at him. "I told you that you had something to with my destiny!" Her grin faded. "But what's a Gensiarian?" 

"No one is really sure. They are as old as time and have the most powerful magic in the universe. Link, could you help me with the pillows?" Link sighed, but helped pile some behind Zelda's back. "Thank you. You may be only half Gensiarian, Lissa, since you have one silver eye. Gensiarians have silver eyes and are immortal." 

A servant knocked on the door and entered. "Your Highness, an elderly gentleman is here to see you. He says it is about the notice you sent." 

Zelda nodded. "Send him in." 

The man was old with long flowing white hair and beard, yet his hazel eyes were bright and young. He bowed deeply to Zelda. "I do not wish to disturb you for long, your Highness." 

Link gave him a chair. "Have a seat." 

The man sat. Zelda spoke to him in her regal voice. "Could you please tell us all you know about the Triforce and the Gensiarians?" 

"Certainly. My name is Cassonn. In my youth, I studied as many ancient documents as I could find. The information I pass to you is the understanding I have drawn from these documents." 

Cassonn took a deep breath and began. "Magic is chaotic, not nicely defined like everyone believes it is. At the creation of our world, the Gensiarians formed the Triforce to give magic boundaries. But they also created a way to destroy the Triforce, a fourth Triforce--the Triforce of Destruction. Inserted into the Triforce, it would destroy the Triforce and the magic boundaries that hold our world together. But they gave a way to destroy the Triforce of Destruction. The last Gensiarian, who would have to be mortal to be born, has the power to destroy the Triforce. But since the Gensiarians are neither good nor evil, the Triforce of Destruction hides in a place only they can reach." 

"The limbo between the Light and Dark Realms." Lissa slapped her hand to her mouth. 

"What is this Dark Realm? The Triforce said that is where Ganon is." Zelda said 

"The Light Realm is our world, including the Underworld tunnels," Cassonn answered. "The Dark Realm is an evil version of our world. Some legends say that before Ganon made his wishes with the Triforce, it was a golden land that housed the Power of Gold." 

"Do your legends say anything about destroying him while he's there?" Link asked bluntly. 

"Without the Triforce of Power, he is too weak to survive in the Light Realm. As for destroying his mortal body, I have heard that an arrow made of silver is the weapon you must use. It is supposed to be hidden in the Dark Realm." 

"All right, first we'll destroy this Triforce of Destruction," Zelda decided. "Then we'll take care of Ganon. How do we get to this limbo between the Light and Dark Realms?" 

"I can go there. We need a portal between the Realms." Lissa snapped her mouth shut with a distressed expression. 

"There is one in the desert to the east. A two day journey from the North Palace. And I'm afraid that is all I know." Cassonn stood up. 

"Thank you for your help." Link escorted Cassonn to the door and looked down at Lissa when he returned. "Where did all that come from?" 

"I don't know." She answered in a small voice. 

"We should get started as soon as possible," Zelda said. 

"You're not well enough to go," Link protested. 

"I feel fine. And I can take care of myself." 

"Ganon's already tried to grab you once. Maybe he needs you before he can get the Triforce back. You really want to give him the chance to try again?" 

"You're injured. She's a child. I'm going." 

"Why does everyone keep throwing this cut in my face? One little scratch and suddenly I can't handle Ganon's goons. I've gotten hurt worse falling off Catherine." 

"But you usually land on your head and it doesn't do any damage!" 

"Oh, I'm hardheaded, huh? What do you call a princess who is the only heir to the throne rushing into something that could get her killed?" 

"One that's trying to keep her kingdom safe!" 

"Fine," Link said gruffly and spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "Then Lissa can come back and tell the people of your kingdom what a pig-headed Princess they had!" He stormed from her bedroom.   
  


**Continued in Part Two**


	2. Part Two

**_THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_  
Verge of Destruction  
Part Two**

**Present**

Link focused on the road ahead of them. The North Palace had already fallen away from the horizon behind them. A forest was beginning to close around them. 

Zelda hadn't said anything to him or Lissa. How long was this fit of anger going to last? By the Triforce, didn't she know he said crap like that for her own good! No one else was going to dare tell her not to do something. 

A whole year he had spent away and nothing was resolved. Ganon was still a threat and Zelda, his feelings for her were still a threat to her safety. 

* * *

**One Year Ago**

Zelda walked into Link's turret bedroom and stopped short. His saddlebags were lying on the stripped mattress of the bed and he was calmly stuffing his personal belongings into them. "You're leaving?" 

"There's no reason for me to stay. I finished the job you wanted me to do, Princess. Ganon's gone and the Triforce is whole." 

"Yes, that's been true for about a year. Why leave now?" 

"Maybe the moblins will leave with me." 

Her green eyes gazed at him, puzzled. "This is ridiculous, Link. Really, why are you leaving? I still need your help." 

He took a deep breath. How can I explain this to you? My blood is the only thing between Ganon and the peace Hyrule has now. I don't know what I would do if some moblins or other servants of Ganon hurt you to make me spill it. But I can't tell you that, because then all you would do is worry and more than anything I want you to believe that Ganon is gone forever. It's the only way I can love you. "I'm bored. There's nothing for me to do anymore. Look if something big comes up, use your telepathy and call me back. I'll come running. But I'm just in the way with all this day to day running the kingdom business." 

"Were you even going to tell me good-bye?" 

"I didn't want you to talk me out of it." That's an honest answer at least! 

"I wouldn't do that. Not if it's something you really want to do." He buckled the saddlebags closed and stood with a stretch. "And apparently, this is something you want to do." 

"More like something I feel that I have to do." Careful, fool, you'll tell her everything! "Otherwise, I'm going to go nuts." 

"Let's try to keep you as sane as you are." She looked down at the floor. "I don't know how to say it." 

Link slung the saddlebag over his shoulder. "What? Thank you or goodbye?" 

"Both." She stepped up to him and circled her arms around his neck. Her lips reached for his. 

Oh, Zelda. If you kiss me now, I'll never leave. I won't be able to protect you. I'll have to stand aside and watch you marry someone else for the kingdom and the throne's sake. And if I did manage to leave after you kiss me, could I live with myself knowing what I'm missing? "No." Zelda's green eyes flew open and stared at him in astonishment. "I'm sorry, but I have my reasons so don't ask me why." She pulled her arms away and stepped to the side. "I'll miss you, Princess." 

She swallowed hard. "You can come back to visit. I won't throw you out of the Palace. If I need you, I'll call." She tapped her temple. "And I'll miss you too, Hero." 

Link smiled briefly his familiar lopsided grin, then walked out the door. 

* * *

**Present**

By the Triforce! Link angrily shook his head. Why can't I automatically remember the good times Zelda and me had, like dancing at Lana's ball? Why do I always dwell on that moment when I had to turn my back on everything? 

Not that it did any good. Everything is the same as I had left it. 

They continued traveling through the forest. 

* * *

**Present**

"I'm beginning to think human companionship is overrated." Lissa confided to the horse she was riding, Easy-Going. 

Storm, the white mare Zelda rode, neighed a comment. 

"Really? Just about all the time?" 

Catherine replied in the affirmative and added a comment of her own. 

Lissa laughed hard. Link glanced back suspiciously. "What did she say?" 

"You don't want to know," she replied still chuckling. 

"It's not polite to talk about someone behind their back." He directed at his horse. 

Catherine snorted. 

"She said she always talks about rude behavior. Doesn't matter who's doing it." 

Kilare screeched softly. He was perched on Lissa's shoulder right next to her ear. 

"I am not just talking about stuff so I won't think about the weird magic stuff. No one knows anything about the weird magic stuff. Least of all me." 

The forest ended abruptly. The road that had dwindled to a path ended at the edge of a grassy plain. A few feet to their left, a spring pool bubbled on the edge of trees and grass. A large log had toppled near it, forming a perfect natural bench. 

Link turned and looked at the sky behind them. "We better set up camp here." Kilare screeched and flew off. "What's his problem? He doesn't like it here?" 

"No, he said he was going to find dinner for everybody." Lissa frowned. "Don't look at me like that. Just because I know what they say doesn't mean I know what they're talking about." 

"Okay, okay." Link dismounted. "Let's go find some firewood." 

Lissa went to the task without complaining. Kilare was more right than she wanted to admit. Father had told her on his last mentally clear day that he wasn't her natural father. That man was dead, had been since she was an infant. And now her mother was probably some magical immortal being. 

But what did it mean for her? And for Hyrule? She had talked to some servants in Zelda's Palace. No one wanted Ganon to return. But was it her place to stop him? 

She brought her load of sticks to the camp site's firewood pile and dumped it. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda laid out her bedding near the fire. The sun had already sank beneath the trees of the forest they had just left. In front of them, the eastern sky was a deep navy blue sprinkled with stars stretching over a grassy plain that would dry out into desert. Lissa sat with her back to the fire and her mismatched blue and silver eyes stared up in wide wonder. 

Link looked up from checking the cooking fish that Kilare the hawk had brought back. He noticed her enraptured expression. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing." 

"You're acting like you've never seen the sky before." 

"I haven't. Not like this. I didn't know you could see so many stars at once. You couldn't see this many in my clearing." 

"You've lived your entire life in the forest?" Zelda sat down on her bedding. 

"Yes, Father was a woodsman. I've never had to leave it before." She waved her hand at the sky. Zelda noticed a familiar figure, four smaller triangles set inside one large one, on its back. A strange birthmark. "It reminds me of the light Father would put up at night. It was a candle enclosed in tin can that had small holes punched into it. When you lit the candle, the light would shine up on the ceiling and walls and make patterns like the stars. I thought it was magical." 

"Supper's ready, ladies." Link put a fish on a plate and passed them around. Lissa reluctantly turned from the stars to eat. 

The meal was as silent as the ride had been. Lissa had tried to get them to talk then, but Zelda had been angry at Link and in no mood. She would make up for that now. "It's the simple things we all love best." 

"I didn't think you knew anything about simple things," Lissa blurted with surprise. 

Zelda's mouth fell open. Link threw back his head and laughed. Lissa blushed. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that. It's just you're a Princess and you live in that wonderful Palace. I'm sorry." 

"It's all right." Zelda recovered her composure. "It's true enough, which is why Link is laughing." She shot him a dirty look. 

"At least you can admit it," he answered. 

"Yes well, I recognize my short comings." 

"I've never been good at thinking things through, so I guess I need someone around to point my shortcomings out to me. You want the job, Lissa?" 

The golden hawk screeched from his perch on one of the saddles sitting on the ground. Lissa tossed him the last of her fish, which he caught skillfully with his beak, and she turned back to Link and Zelda. "Kilare's right. You two enjoy squabbling with each other. It lets you keep score of who's right and who's wrong. And it's not nice to use me to do it." She wiped her hands on the end of her jerkin as she stood up. "I'm going to bed." She wrapped herself up in her bedding and laid down with her back to the fire. The fox settled next to her, curling itself into a tight ball of red fur. 

Link stood up and walked away from the fire toward the spring at the edge of the forest. Zelda glanced at him, then back at the fire. They couldn't head into enemy territory fighting like this. She got up with a sigh and walked over to Link. 

He was sitting on the log next to the spring. He looked up with a small smile. "Should we make it a three-way game?" 

"It is a game, isn't it?" She sat down next to him. "We don't hate each other when we fight." 

"No, we don't hate each other. I think we just find it easier to fight." He stared down at the spring. "She's right. I shouldn't have laughed at your shock." 

"I would have laughed, too. Our expressions must have been funny." 

"Yeah, they were. But it just leads back to fighting." 

"Then let's just talk without fighting for once. What have you been doing since you left?" 

"The whole year? Wandered mostly. First, I went through Hyrule, then headed to Calatia." 

"Your homeland?" 

"Yeah. Went by and saw my foster family. The jerks are still jerks, annoyed that I had left and more annoyed that I proved them wrong by not ending up dead. I went through Lemhar next. That was fun; they're in the middle of a civil war. A trip through Obkee, then I crossed the mountains and came back to Hyrule. Fought with some moblins and Lissa found me before they came back to finish me off." 

"Don't you ever get tired of the risks?" 

He shrugged. "Life is a risk. At least I know where I stand with moblins." 

"Don't you ever want to stop wandering?" 

"Not yet, I guess. When I find a reason to stop, I'll stop." 

Zelda glanced at his profile. He stared down at the dark water reflecting the stars and the moon on an undulating surface. The question filled her mouth, but should she ask it? No, it was better not to know. "Look, we managed to have an entire conversation without fighting." 

"Too bad Spryte wasn't here to witness it." 

"She'll never believe us," she agreed. "I'm going to sleep. We'll probably want an early start tomorrow." 

"Good night, Zelda." 

"Good night." She returned to the fire and laid down so she couldn't see Link. Why did he have to make things so difficult? Things had been fine that year after they had gotten the Triforce of Power away from Ganon. Then he had to leave and stay away. Because he had finished his job? Like she wanted him to stay because she needed his protection. She was pretty good at protecting herself. She heard Link walk from the spring and settle down into his bedding. Okay, she was pretty good at protecting herself now, thanks to Link. By the Triforce, why did he have to make things difficult? Zelda closed her green eyes with a sigh. 

* * *

**Present**

Link was sitting on the log next the spring. The waning moon had risen higher and the fire had died down. Their campsite was lit in a silver sheen as bright as daylight but left all the colors a shade darker than they were normally. 

Zelda walked up to the spring and Link turned to face her. "Is something wrong?" 

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to ask you something." She sat down on the log next to him. 

"Why didn't you ask me before? While we were talking?" 

"I was afraid." 

"You, Princess? Afraid?" 

"I've been afraid before." 

"You hide it well. I don't think I ever remember seeing you afraid." The comment was made musingly and without the teasing tone his voice had held earlier. 

"It's something we're both good at," she answered with sudden insight, "hiding our true feelings from each other." 

"You're right. But you haven't asked me a question." 

"Before, you said when you found a reason to stop wandering you would stop." 

"Yeah, that's what I said." 

She looked down at her hands resting on her knees. "Am I a good reason to stop?" 

Link's darkly tanned hand reached over and touched her left one, picking it up and cradling it in a warm grasp. She looked up to his face. "You're the only reason I do anything." 

"Then why won't you stay?" 

"Because it would kill me if anything ever happened to you because of me." 

"Don't you want to stay?" 

"You think I'm doing what I want to do? That I want to wander around the world and stay away from the one place, the one person who has ever made me happy? What I want to do and what I have to do haven't matched for a long time." 

"Link, it doesn't have to be that way. We can find some way of reconciling our desires with our duties." 

His laugh was short and bitter. "It can't be done, Princess. All the magic in Hyrule couldn't do it. If it could be done, I would have done this a lot sooner." 

He pulled her closer and lowered his face to hers. Right before their lips met, Lissa's cheerful voice broke in. "Rise and shine, people!" She giggled, "I always wanted to say that." 

Zelda opened her eyes. Dawn's light was breaking over the grassy plain. The fire was burning again and a pot of what smelled like porridge was hanging over it. She sat up and rubbed the fog from her eyes. 

Link groaned from his bedding. "This always happens." 

Lissa stood over them, frowning slightly. "Guess you're not morning people." 

* * *

**Present**

The circle was carved into the sand of the desert. Its strange runes should have blown away a long time ago. A healthy sense of dread blossomed in Zelda's stomach. "This must be the place." 

Link grabbed Lissa's shoulder and Zelda saw that the triangular birthmark was shared by both of them. "Are you sure you can do this?" Link asked Lissa. 

"No. Does that make you feel better?" Lissa bit her lip. 

Link released his grip. He turned to Zelda as Lissa started to concentrate. "Keep alert," he told her gruffly. "If Lissa can't find that limbo place, we'll probably end up in the Dark Realm." They stepped over the seal at the same time. 

* * *

**Present**

Link gazed around. He stood in the center of a clearing in the middle of a dead forest. A seal matching the one in the desert was carved into the ground behind him. He looked up. The sky that was visible was black as if a thunderstorm was about to strike but without clouds. "Zelda? Lissa?" 

Zelda dangled from a dead tree and dropped into the clearing. "I'm here, in more or less one piece. But I don't see Lissa." 

"Maybe she made it. Maybe we weren't supposed to." 

"Link, you and Lissa have the same birthmark on your hands." 

"What?" He stared at Zelda's face then looked down at his right hand. "That's impossible. A seer told me this is the mark of the Triforce, for the ones who protect it, and that it's passed down only in my family." 

"Then Lissa must be part of your family." 

Shock undermined his disbelief. "No. Then Ganon could use her too." 

Zelda grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He could feel her mind pressing against his. He pushed it away. "Use her for what? Tell me, please." 

Link jerked his hand back. "It's nothing. We better find that silver arrow." 

After all we've been through and this is what you think of me? You think I can't handle what you know? Stop hiding, stop running, and tell me!" 

"I just thought it would be better if you didn't know." 

"Let me decide if I need that kind of protection from you." 

He couldn't look at her angry face. "That last spell Ganon cast, the one he hit me with while you were escaping with the Triforce of Power." 

"I remember. It hit me, too. But you said it was nothing." 

He grabbed her shoulders angrily. "Why didn't you tell me it hit you!" 

"You said it was nothing!" Link threw down his arms and turned away. "You lied to me?" He didn't answer. "Link, you lied to me!" 

His shoulders sagged with despair, anger, pity. And he told her of the burden they now shared. 

* * *

**Two Years Ago**

"Link? Link, answer me, please." Zelda fought to keep the worry out of her voice. 

Link blinked his eyes open. He was lying in his bed back at the North Palace. The last thing he remembered was Zelda running from Ganon's Grand Chamber dragging a green and a red Triforce behind her. "Zelda? What happened?" 

"We did it! We won!" 

"Won?" He sat up, mainly to see if he could. 

"We have the Triforce of Power! All three of them joined together. I was so worried." Her arms circled around his neck in a quick hug. "When Ganon hit you with that spell, I thought you were going to die before I could get you back to the Palace. But Captain Krin heard me calling for help." She stood up. "I have to go tell Father you're okay. He's worried." 

Link blinked again as she left and shook his head. The Royal Physician sat down in the chair Zelda had just jumped out of. "How do you feel?" 

"She's different. What happened?" 

"The Princess?" The doctor peered at him. 

Zelda's voice broke into Link's mind. _The Triforce has given me telepathy. That's how I called to Captain Krin. _

You're showing off, Zelda. 

What? No one else can talk back to me. They can just hear me. Why can you? 

I'm special? 

Zelda's mental snort was the same as her audible one, and she broke the connection. Link chuckled. 

"The Princess is showing off?" The physician asked with a smile under his black mustache. 

"I can talk back to her telepathically. That surprised her." 

"Interesting, no one else has been able to. How do you feel?" 

"I feel fine. What did Ganon hit me with?" 

The physician shifted in his chair. "I didn't tell the Princess; she was worried enough. Don't ever cut yourself, at least not in the presence of any of Ganon's servants." 

"Why not? I'll bleed to death?" 

"No. It was the most powerful spell I've ever seen. Ganon's immortal soul must have known that you and the Princess were going to destroy his body." 

"Doc, you're not making any sense." 

"Your blood can bring Ganon's body back to life. There are probably other ways to do it, but you have now become the easiest way for the moblins to have their master back. And possibly the blood of any relations, since the spell was so strong." 

"I don't have any family. I'm an orphan." Link's voice was dazed. 

"Most parents aren't considered orphans." 

"I'm not a parent!" 

"Not yet." 

* * *

**Present**

"Why didn't you tell me then?" Zelda yelled with her hands on her hips. 

Link whirled to face her. "You were happy! Ganon was gone; Hyrule was safe. Do you really think I could have destroyed your peace of mind by telling you I'm the biggest threat to Hyrule now? You're giving more guts than I've got, Princess." 

"Then why did you leave? What good did that do?" 

He turned away again. "The moblins kept coming after us. I left because I didn't want them using you as a hostage to get to me. But he can use your blood, too. And Lissa's. So I left for nothing." He punched the trunk of a nearby tree. "I thought I was doing you and Hyrule one last service--not letting Ganon come back." He punched the tree again, scrapping the skin across his knuckles. "But I did it for nothing!" He mouthed the last, so Zelda couldn't hear it. "I tried to prove my love for nothing." 

Zelda laid her hands on the shoulders that faced her. "Link, I'm sorry. I don't think you did it for nothing." He pulled away from her touch. "It was a very noble gesture." He didn't answer her. "We better find the silver arrow." 

"Yeah," he said gruffly to cover his emotions. "We may need it." 

* * *

**Present**

Lissa looked around the black void she was standing in the midst of. A woman, neither young nor old, walked up to her. Her silver eyes looked down impassively at the girl. "Welcome, my child." 

With those words, an understanding exploded into Lissa's mind. "You're my mother?" 

"I am." 

The questions buried in Lissa's heart, in her past, flooded her mind, but she gave utterance to one word. "Why?" 

"It is hard for you to understand. You are half-human and raised as a human. You don't realize that we--called Gensiarians here--act by different rules than the limited mortals. Magic's boundaries must be observed and destiny must be protected. I met your father in the midst of his grieving for his just dead wife. You do not understand why yet, but I stayed and comforted him. Soon after you were born, he was in a fight and received a fatal wound. I could have saved him, but the only wish he had was to see the son that he had given away after his wife had died. But I was unable to reach the boy before your father died." 

"You mean I have a brother?" 

"Yes. I let a friend of your father raise you, under the condition that you would be kept ignorant of your past." 

"Why?" 

"You should know that," the Gensiarian chided. 

"So destiny and the future are protected." 

"A guardian of what has happened, must happen, and shall happen cannot be told of the fate until he or she is ready to make the choice. The choice has come to you." 

Lissa took a deep breath. "I need the Triforce of Destruction." 

"You have not listened to both arguments." Seeing Lissa's confused look, she continued. "We are the arbitrators. Two sides constantly battle for control. You have a mortal's choice of which side to serve. But you cannot make this choice without hearing the other's arguments." 

* * *

**Present**

Link and Zelda were back to back, surrounded by moblins. One rushed out of the circle--heading for Link. "Look out!" He managed to shout before the whole mob attacked. 

Zelda pulled back her bowstring and let the arrows fly. A moblin took one of these arrows and vanished. In his place, was a shining silver arrow. She snatched it up. "I've got the silver arrow!" 

Link kicked back a moblin. "One problem solved." The horizons grew hazy. He blinked and turned around. He and Zelda stood on an infinite black plane. "This is getting slightly ridiculous. Where are we?" 

Lissa walked up to them. "We're where the Gensiarians meet." 

Link grabbed Lissa's hand, comparing her birthmark to his. "Zelda, you're right! They're identical!" 

Lissa looked at her hand, then Link's. "But that means." Her jaw dropped. "Link, you're my half-brother! We had the same father." 

He closed his eyes and shook his head hard. "It makes perfect sense. Perfect sense." 

"I hate to break up this touching family reunion, but where is the Triforce of Destruction?" Zelda asked. "We have no idea what Ganon is up to." 

Lissa turned to Zelda apologetically. "The Gensiarians won't let me have it yet." 

"Why not?" Link asked. 

"Your understanding is not necessary." A cold clear voice rang out in the void. "Are both parties present?" 

"Now they are." A hissing voice answered. 

Link's eyes narrowed. "Ganon." He took a step forward. The pig-faced wizard smiled evilly at their group. 

Lissa set both her hands on his chest as she stood in front of him, shaking her head. "This isn't the time or the place." 

Link stepped back, but kept a wary eye on Ganon. The man who owned the voice came forward dressed in a shimmering robe. "Evil's consul may now present their case." 

A woman dressed in the same shimmering robes stood next Ganon. She was the one who spoke. "You call us evil, but by what facts do you base that assumption? We have not had a chance to prove our leadership abilities to anyone thanks to the meddling of the so-called _good_ side. We need the Triforce of Destruction to prove that we do not deserve the title _evil_." 

Zelda sucked in her breath. "How logical. What do we do now?" she asked. 

Lissa took a deep breath. So they want my choice, but it had to be a fair one. "Evil says they need the Triforce of Destruction to prove that they do not deserve the title _evil_. For that reason, you should not give the Triforce to them. Ganon will hold it over the mortals' heads to give himself power. And when they refuse to submit to his greed, he will use the Triforce of Destruction to destroy the Power of Gold. Therefore, destroying the boundaries of magic that hold the universes together. We wish to destroy the Triforce of Destruction, so that for better or worse, it cannot be used to destroy everything." 

"The child has spoken well. A guardian is born." The judge announced after a moment's deliberation. "We give her the Triforce of Destruction." 

Ganon snarled, hurling himself at Lissa. He doubled in size, towering over them. Link pushed her out of the way and stood, sword drawn to face the monster. Zelda, gripping the silver arrow, crept up to Ganon's side. Ganon whirled around and grabbed her in one swift movement. She cried out and dropped the silver arrow. They hazed and disappeared. "Zelda!" Link shouted as he felt something inside his soul tear away. Grabbing the silver arrow she had dropped, he turned to Lissa. "Send me after her," he ordered hoarsely. 

Lissa nodded and turned to the man who had judged. "If we leave, the Triforce of Destruction is still ours, isn't it?" 

"It is yours for all eternity." 

The horizons started to grow hazy again. Link set his jaw. They were in the Dark Realm, at the entrance to a giant castle-like spire. "This is Ganon's Castle here in the Dark Realm. He and Zelda are inside. Be careful, Link." Lissa warned him. "I would hate to find and lose a brother in one day." 

"Don't worry." Link stuck the silver arrow in his belt. 

* * *

**Present**

Ganon still held Zelda in his huge fist. "Prepare the Bath of Blood." He roared to his underlings. "Her Highness soon shall be one of us." 

"I will not!" Zelda shouted with much more courage than she felt. Link was coming. He'd rescue her again. 

Ganon brought her closer to his sneering pig face. "That's what you think." 

"Master." One of the skeleton men, a stalfos, crept up. "We have no fresh blood." 

Ganon gloated in his superiority. "The blood," he hissed, "shall come to us. Make sure no one gets in his way." Zelda guessed at the meaning of those words. Her face turned very pale. 

* * *

**Present**

Link frowned. This wasn't right. No one had faced him as he searched for Zelda. It just wasn't like Ganon not to send out any of his minions when he could let them give him a hard time. He rounded another corner cautiously. The lighted doorway beckoned from the end of the corridor. Gripping his sword tightly, Link glanced at his almost healed wound. 

Everyone was busy preparing for a ceremony. But where was Zelda? Link found her--literally held in Ganon's grip. Losing all caution, Link ran into the chamber with a battle cry. 

"Link! No!" she screamed. 

Ganon faced Link. "Drop your weapon, Hero, or I'll kill her." He squeezed his hand. Zelda gasped for air. 

He'd do it too. Link felt rage burning behind his brown eyes. But Ganon hadn't seen the silver arrow yet. He dropped his sword. 

_Link, get out of here. They want you for a ritual to turn me evil. Run! _

I'm not leaving without you. 

Tears filled her green eyes. he could see them from where he stood. _Now's not the time for some macho stunt! Get out of here before they kill you! _

I have a plan. 

Ganon turned to his minions. "Prepare him for...." With a running leap, Link jumped onto Ganon's back. In one quick movement, he buried the silver arrow deep in it and flipped off. 

"Ereah!" Ganon screamed and dropped Zelda. Link caught her and ran for the doorway. They never made it. Link stopped running when he realized they were back in the limbo. He looked around. "Where's Lissa?" 

"She will be here shortly. She must destroy this place." A woman stood beside him. They were back in the desert of Hyrule in the Light Realm. The animals shot them nervous looks. "We may have to wait a while," she continued. "My daughter's youth and mortal side hinder her powers." 

Link looked down at Zelda. His heart thudded loudly in his ears and not just from the exertion. She had fainted. Link knelt down and laid her on the ground, her head on his lap. "So," he said at last, "you're my stepmother?" 

"That is what you could call the relationship." She paused, "I believe your father would be proud of you." 

"Tell me about him." 

"Many considered him a brave man," Lissa's mother said slowly. "He must have loved your mother very much, for he never stopped mentioning her. Though you do not share his looks, you act very much like him." 

Zelda heard voices. She shifted her foot slightly and felt the sand she was lying on. What had happened? Ganon had her; Link was in mortal danger. Her eyes flew open. 

She looked full into Link's face, that wonderfully strong, honest face. Relief flooded his brown eyes and yet something else, some other emotion flickered there. But it left and the mask was in place. "Are you okay, Zelda?" 

"I'm all right," she replied slowly, "but Ganon?" 

"He's out of commission again." A violent shift shook the entire world, as if it was being magnetically drawn to something else. Link instinctively tightened his hold on Zelda's arms. 

Lissa appeared, haggard and older. Destroying the Triforce of Destruction showed her the knowledge she must know to be a Gensiarian. In time, she would find a better way to reconcile her two halves. Now all she could see was the endless possibilities of both halves--either here on Hyrule or on other worlds--and how limited she was. For the mortal half must die and the Gensiarian would continue, each half being true to what they are. 

Her mother spoke, "Well done, Gensiarian," and vanished. 

"Is it?" Zelda halted, fearing to complete the question. 

"I destroyed it, Zelda." Lissa sat cross-legged on the sand. Nalga crept into her lap, comforting her. "Oh!" she cried softly, an idea had just occurred to her. "Here, Link." She handed him his sword. 

"Thanks, Sis." He took his sword. Zelda sat up to be out of his way. "Your mother said you had to destroy that limbo place, why?" 

Lissa laughed, "You're going to love this. The Triforce of Destruction was where the Gensiarians meet, suspended between the Dark and Light Realms." 

"It makes perfect sense. Perfect sense." 

* * *

**Present**

Link walked into the throne room of the North Palace. "Well, I'm leaving." 

"You are?" Zelda looked up from the paper she was reading. "Where are you going?" 

"Around." He shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Lissa wants to see a bit of the world." 

"I see," she said softly, looking down. She looked back up. "When will you be back?" She hoped she was successful in suppressing the eager note in her voice. "If you're coming back?" 

"Whenever you need me, Zelda." He walked stiffly out of the throne room. She turned to the window and watched him mount Catherine. A tear slid down her cheek as brother and sister rode from the courtyard. "I need you now," Zelda whispered. 

* * *

**Present**

Lissa sighed. Link's determined facade had crumbled halfway down the road from the Palace to be replaced with misery. She saw the paths of the future in her mind, so many paths. But only one was the correct one. Only one could ensure the safety of the Power of Gold forever. She had to act. "You love her." 

"What!" Link's head whipped around to look at the girl riding beside him. 

"Why don't you tell her?" 

He sighed. "Everyone loves her. Zelda's good to her people." 

"That's not what I mean, Link, and you know it! Everyone knows it. That's what me, Catherine, and Storm were talking about when we were going to the Dark Realm portal. Storm said you two fight like an old married couple. And Catherine said you two should just mate and get it over with." 

"Thanks a lot," he muttered down at his horse. "See if I pour my heart out to you again." 

"Why don't you pour it out to Zelda instead?" 

Link shook his head. "You're too young to understand." 

"I understand, all right. You're afraid. Afraid that the feeling might not be mutual." 

"That might be a reason, but not the only one. She deserves somebody better than me. She's a princess; she needs to marry someone who's good for the Kingdom. I'm a nobody--no title, no land, no ruling skills. Zelda deserves better than that." 

Lissa whirled Easy-Going in front of Catherine. "If that isn't the stupidest thing I have ever heard! You're both denying yourself happiness because of your illusions of each other. Would you want to marry a simple farm girl? `I'm sorry, Honey, but even though I'd never leave you or try to hurt you, my heart belongs to another.' Do you have any idea how devastating that is? You go back there and tell her how you feel!" 

"Some things are best left unsaid." Link tried to prod his horse around Lissa, but she blocked that path. 

"Link," she warned. Link gave up, reared his horse, and galloped back to the North Palace. 

* * *

**Present**

Zelda jumped off her throne, roughly rubbing her cheeks. Link had barged into the throne room. He closed the doors softly and turned to her. "Just sit. I have something to tell you. Don't interrupt. Please," he added as an afterthought. Zelda sank back into her throne, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion. 

Link took a deep breath. "It's like this. I saved you from Ganon that first time five years ago because I didn't think that anyone should have that fate. I never dreamed--never hoped--that I would fall in love with you." His face twisted in an expression he had never let it form before. "But I have. I know that it is too much even to think that you may care for me in the same way. And even if you did, I know you can't marry me since you're a princess. So... so... so I'm leaving. Please marry somebody who is right for the Kingdom, is perfect for you... and loves you as much as I do." He turned away, his heart aching. Whoever said love was a wonderful feeling? 

Zelda jumped up again, ran across the throne room, and grabbed hold of his arm before he opened the doors again, pulling him to a stop. "Why in Hyrule have you waited so long to tell me?" Link turned from the door. "Here's my answer!" 

Link opened his mouth to protest and found Zelda's sweet, warm lips pressing against his. Every thought in his mind stopped and reveled in the sensations of the kiss. "Was that a _yes_?" he asked when he was able. 

"Of course that was a _yes_. You just proposed to me, you dummy." 

"What did I propose?" 

"Marriage, you idiot." Her red-rimmed eyes opened wide with fear. "Unless you didn't mean it?" 

"No, no," Link hastened to remedy. "I meant it, believe me!" He relaxed and pulled her closer. Everything was fine. He loved Zelda; Zelda loved him. "I must have proposed pretty good for a stupid, idiotic dummy." 

"No, not really, but I'm not waiting for one that sounds better and is less sincere." Zelda's green eyes gazed into Link's warm brown ones. "Confidentially, you were they only one I ever made fun of like that." 

"Zelda." 

"Link." 

* * *

**Present**

"I wouldn't go in there right now." Lissa sat holding Kilare outside the throne room. 

The courier removed his hand from the doorknob. "And why not?" he asked haughtily. 

"Because the Princess will be ringing for you any minute now." Lissa smiled, her mismatched eyes mysteriously lighting up. "I would advise getting out all the things you use for a wedding." 

"And I would advise you to keep your impertinence to yourself." The throne room bell rang. The courier gave Lissa a worried look before entering. 

Lissa giggled delightedly as she smoothed Kilare's feathers. "I think I frightened him." 

* * *

**Present**

They held the beautiful wedding outdoors a week later. Zelda radiated in her white, silver, and blue bridal gown. Link felt ridiculous in the uncomfortable formal clothes, but forgot everything when he saw Zelda. She so occupied his one track mind, she had to prod him to say "I do." 

Lissa did not join the festivities after the ceremony. Instead she sought out the elderly-looking man with silver eyes. "Will they be happy?" 

"Oh, yes, they will be happy--in their fashion. But you have a more important job ahead of you." The Gensiarian looked at the dancing couple before continuing. "You must protect their son. The future of Hyrule depends on his destiny. Remember," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "you are also the liaison between the mortals and us. You are the one to ensure that what has happened and what must happen will happen." 

"I will remember," Lissa promised softly. The Gensiarian nodded as he vanished. 

Link pulled Zelda closer. "Why didn't you ever admit that you loved me? I told you lots of times, before I decided that I should stop since you're a Princess, and too good for me." 

Zelda laid her head on his shoulder. "Do you want an honest answer?" 

"It would be nice." 

"Well, I didn't want you to get a swelled head." 

"A swelled head! I never get a swelled head!" 

"That's what you think." Zelda retorted as she walked off the dance floor. Link watched her go with a smile on his lips. 

He bowed stiffly to Lissa. "May the groom have this dance with his favorite sister?" 

Lissa giggled, she couldn't help it. "Favorite sister? I'm your only sister." 

"So that makes you my favorite sister automatically." Link said smoothly as he guided Lissa over to the dance floor. 

Lissa put the Gensiarian's statements to the back of her mind. This was a day of rejoicing. Let the future come on its own.   
  


**The End**


End file.
